SECOND COMMITTEE APPROVES WORK PROGRAMME FOR FIFTY-SEVENTH SESSION; ELECTS TWO VICE-CHAIRMEN, RAPPORTEUR

Fifty-seventh General Assembly

Second Committee

1^st Meeting (PM)

SECOND COMMITTEE APPROVES WORK PROGRAMME FOR FIFTY-SEVENTH

SESSION; ELECTS TWO VICE-CHAIRMEN, RAPPORTEUR

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon approved its programme of work for the fifty-seventh session and elected two Vice-Chairmen as well as the Rapporteur to its bureau.

The Committee elected, by acclamation, Abdellah Benmellouk (Morocco) and Bruno van der Pluijm (Belgium) as Vice-Chairmen, and Walid Al-Hadid (Jordan) as Rapporteur.  The election of the remaining Vice-Chairman was postponed until a later date.

In his introductory remarks, Committee Chairman Marco Suazo (Honduras) said the Committee must work creatively to resolve problems hindering the achievement of a just world, especially in the poorest countries.  Thanks to reforms in the organization of the session, he had already had informal talks with representatives of various groups as well as the Secretary-General on the Committee’s work.

During the current session, the Committee’s work would mainly focus on the following:  macroeconomic policy questions; sectoral policy questions; sustainable development and international economic cooperation; environment and sustainable development; operational activities for development; implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty; implementation of and follow-up to outcomes of major United Nations conferences in the economic and social fields; and globalization and interdependence.

It would also consider implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements; the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries; training and research; international intergovernmental consideration of financing for development; and the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.

Comments were made on the programme of work by the representatives of Syria, Venezuela (on behalf of the Group of 77 and China), United States, and Denmark (on behalf of the European Union).

The Committee will meet again at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, 30 September to begin its general debate.